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So Christmas is exactly a month away and even though there’s been so many Christmas-y things around I’ve managed to ignore them up until now. Suddenly I’ve been completely thrown in to the Christmas deep end, I need to buy presents and a tree and decorations, and on top of that you have family asking you what you want and can never give an answer. So to help you all out I have devised a Christmas mood board, whether you use it for present ideas, or to direct your family to when they don’t know what to get you (that’s my plan!).

Autumn has always been one of my favourite seasons. It’s all layering, hot drinks, orange colours and scarves. It’s still warm enough not to complain and not cold enough to just want to stay inside. My most definite favourite bit is when all the leaves turn all crinkly and colourful and everywhere crunches as you walk.

Ice cream in rainy November😀

Very blurry squirrel, but I’d never been that close to one so I was a bit excited!

Seeing as we’re not likely to be seeing the sun until sometime next May, we need to make the most of being inside instead of wistfully looking out the window and hoping for a ray of sunshine. Or at least hoping for no rain.

1. Make cake

2. Have a spa day with friends

3. Have a girly night in with cocktails, pizza and chic flicks

4. Catch up on work or housework

5. Pamper yourself with a bubble bath and a glass of wine

6. Read a book

7. Organise your wardrobe (or floordrobe!)

8. Learn a new skill (musical instrument, crochet etc)

9. Work on one of your hobbies

10. Internet shop in your pajamas

11. Re-vamp your blog

12. Have a clothes customizing party

13. Have a clothes swap party. Bake some cupcakes, shake up some cocktails and get rid of some unwanted clothes

14. Catch up on your favourite TV show

15. Try a new workout video or exercise (I suggest skipping)

16. Plan an exotic holiday for the summer

17. Call or visit your family

18. Try a new hairstyle or different makeup. I recently perfected my winged eyeliner look!

19. Write a good old-fashioned letter to a friend

20. Christmas shop online to avoid the crowds

21. Give your home a new look by rearranging furniture, or making some homemade art for the walls

22. Try out new recipes until you find a new favourite

23. Clear out your makeup drawer. Do you really still need that bright yellow nail polish you bought when you were 15?

24. Learn about a new topic. Have you ever wondered how your TV works? No, me neither. But you know what I mean!

25. Play board games. We’ve all got them in the house getting dusty somewhere, so get some use out of them!

Vegetarian food has always been something of a mystery to me. I’ve always loved the idea of going veggie, but after me and my mum gave it up one lent, I realised I just loved meat way too much! However after recently moving out and having to live on a budget, as well as trying to eat healthily, the idea of vegetarian food came back. As well as being cheaper from the lack of meat, veggie food requires you to be a lot more creative as you can’t just rely on meat for flavour and texture.

After a quick rummage in the fridge (and a craving for Mexican food) the idea for a delicious burrito began…

Ingredients (serves one)

– A tortilla – Soured cream

– 2 eggs – Cheese

– 2 garlic cloves – 2 carrots

– Chilli – Cannellini beans

– Red kidney beans – Half a leek

– 1 onion – 1 spring onion

– 3 or 4 cherry tomatoes

Start by draining a can of red kidney beans and a can of cannellini beans. Boil the beans and 2 grated carrots for about 8-10 minutes, then drain. Fry the leek and onion and mix with the beans and carrots. There will be a lot of the bean mixture left over but don’t worry! It goes brilliantly with salad, or you can give it a mash and make bean burger patties for another day.

Place about 2 tablespoons of beans in the centre of the tortilla.

Next, chop and fry the garlic and chilli. I’m only using a teeny bit of chilli cause they’re scotch bonnets *cough* and I’m a wuss *cough*. Then add the eggs, chopped cherry toms and spring onion and scramble, then place on top of your beans.

We’re almost done!

Now add on a honk of grated cheese and a dollop of soured cream (yes, they’re the technical terms!)

You don’t have to restrict yourself to these toppings. Maybe try it with some guacamole and hot sauce? Just go wild!

Fold…

And get ridiculously messy while you eat it with your hands!

Serve this on its’ own for a delicious lunch, or whip up some homemade wedges and salad for a hearty dinner!

After reading this post by A Beautiful Mess I thought it would be a good idea to try and finish 2013 on a high, and perhaps train myself in preparation for the compulsory New Year’s revolutions. All of the rules are on the Beautiful Mess blog, but basically pick action orientated goals rather than target orientated goals. For example, instead of “I will lose 20 pounds”, pick a goal like “I will make healthier food choices.”

I found it a lot harder to think of these than I thought it would be! But I did think of them in the end. These are my goals for the final two months of the year:

1. Be more motivated. I always have a lot of plans and ideas, but most of the time I never do them, so I need to improve my motivation to get things done. This also applies to things like uni work, exercise, hobbies etc.

2. Be more organised. This kinda fits into the motivation goal. If I’m more organised, I’m more likely to get things done!

3. Improve my cooking/baking skills. I’ve always wanted to be able to cook and bake fabulous things, and at the moment it’s 50/50 between fabulous and ‘ewwy’

4. Improve my photography skills. I love my DLSR, but I still don’t understand what all the buttons do!

We wanted our last day in London not to be too busy because we had a long trip down to Plymouth the following day. We started off the day with bubble tea and then moved on to the Natural History Museum, a favourite of mine because I can remember me and my mum going together a lot when I was younger. My favourite part was (and always will be) the dinosaurs!

After the dinosaurs, it was off to Hyde Park to relax before an early night.

Notting Hill was one of my favourite places, but Camden is definitely up there too! They’re very different but they both have the same quirky charm that just makes you want to spend months just wandering and looking round.

After much wandering, it was time for lunch. Luckily we were right next to a Mexican restaurant which turned out to be incredible!

Bloody Maria and Hibiscus Margarita

It was very difficult to spend just one day in Camden. Realistically you would need to stay for a few days to see and do everything, but I’ll definitely be coming back to Camden as soon as possible!